Poached
by ThoseRustedPipes
Summary: On the way back from a musical, Kurt and Burt get in a car accident. There will be some Klaine later on, but for the most part this is a Kurt/Burt story.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Glee or _Into the Woods_ or a Lincoln Navigator **

* * *

"So a poached egg isn't just a stolen egg?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Kurt glanced over at his father who was sitting in the passenger's seat of Kurt's navigator. Kurt had talked him into seeing _Into the Woods_ with him at the local college's theater department. The guy who played Jack had been dismal, but the Witch stole the show. Burt didn't care for the musical that much, but enjoyed watching his son sing along to all the songs under his breath.

It had rained while they had been in the theater, so Kurt was trying to concentrate on driving, but it was difficult while trying to explain breakfast foods to his father.

"You know, poaching? Like when a hunter poaches something, he shoots something out of season," Burt tried to reason.

"No, Dad," Kurt laughed. "A poached egg is boiled."

"Isn't that called a boiled egg?" Burt asked.

Kurt laughed at his dad's obvious confusion. "No, with a boiled egg, you boil it in its shell. With a poached egg, you have to-"

"KURT! WATCH OUT!" A truck had slipped on the wet concrete and was careening into their lane. Kurt tried to yank the wheel out of the way, but it was too late. The truck smashed into the front of the driver's side, causing the Lincoln to spin out across the road, finally coming to sudden halt by crashing into a tree.

* * *

Burt sat slowly blinking in his seat, trying to clear the black spots from his vision. His shoulder and chest ached from being thrown into the seatbelt's strong embrace and his ears rang loudly in his head. The sudden stop had forced his elbow into the car door. Burt tried to bend it but stopped as pain radiated from the spot.

As his ears stopped ringing, Burt heard a plaintive call from his left. "Dad. Dad, are you okay?" Burt turned toward the sound and what he saw made his heart drop.

Kurt sat with his head leaning back against the headrest, staring at his father, his usually bright eyes glazed, blinking unevenly. His nose had evidently been broken when his head snapped forward into the steering wheel and was bleeding freely. His lip was already swollen and dripping with blood. Most concerning to Burt was the large gash on the side of his son's head. The only part of Kurt's face completely devoid of blood was his forehead, and even then Burt could make out some small cuts, probably from the windshield shattering.

"Dad?" Kurt called again, snapping Burt out of his horrified trance.

"Oh my God, Kurt! Oh, look at you!"

"Dad, I'm so sorry!" Kurt cried. "Oh my God, your heart Dad! Are you okay? Oh my God, oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you alright? Is your heart okay? Oh God, Dad!" His words became garbled as ore blood came in a thin stream from Kurt's mouth, dripping onto his already bloodstained collar.

"Kurt, calm down," Burt said in a soothing voice. "I'm fine. I just banged my elbow is all. You're the one we need to worry about."

"What?" Kurt asked, dazed. "No, Dad. I'm fine. Your heart's okay?"

"Stop it, Kurt," Burt said sternly. "I'm fine. How're you? What hurts? Kurt," Burt said suddenly when he noticed his son's eyes begin to droop. "I need you to concrete for me," Burt instructed, reaching over with his good arm and taking Kurt's hand. "Tell me what hurts."

"Hmmm," Kurt moaned, twisting his head around to take in the damage. "My legs hurt." Kurt looked back at his father as if to ask if that was good enough. Burt squeezed his hand encouragingly. "My arm and my chest hurt. Ugh, my head..." Kurt moaned, spluttering on the blood that was still filling his mouth.

"It's okay, baby," Burt said. Kurt's eyes started to slip closed again. "Kurt," Burt called, squeezing hard on his son's hand. "I need you to listen to me for a second. Do you have your phone with you?" Kurt groaned in response. "Just tell me where your phone is, baby, okay? It's going to be okay."

"In my pocket," Kurt choked out. Burt could hear is breath start to come in wheezes. He had never been so scared in his entire life. Even when Elizabeth died, they had both known it was coming. But to see is little boy in so much pain, to see him choking on his own blood, it was too much.

Burt released Kurt's hand to unbuckle himself. "I'm just going to reach into your pocket and get your phone, okay? No, don't move," Burt said as Kurt gasped in pain, trying to twist around to give his father a better angle. Burt felt around for the phone as gently as he could, but Kurt still winced under his touch. Miraculously, the iPhone had survived the crash unscathed. His hands were shaking as he punched in the numbers as quickly as he could.

"9-1-1. What is your emergency?"

"My son and I were just in a car accident on Hwy 76 and we need help!" Burt yelled into the phone. Kurt flinched and rolled his head away from the noise.

"Please calm down, sir. Are you hurt?"

"Not too bad, but Kurt's bleeding a lot. He hit his head!"

"Okay, sir. I'm sending an ambulance to your location. Try to keep your son awake until we get there. Don't try to move him at all."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks." Burt hung up. "Kurt," he called. "Kurt, they're coming. They have an ambulance coming to get us." He heard a muffled "Yay" come Kurt's seat.

"Kurt, can you look at me please, buddy?"

Kurt turned his head to face his father. Burt was relieved to see that at least Kurt's nose had stopped bleeding, though it was already turning slightly purple. However, he was becoming more concerned by the blood that continued to drip from his son's mouth and stream down the side of his face. Burt took his son's hand again, rubbing is calloused thumb against the smooth, cool skin. "Hey, bud."

"Hey, Dad." Kurt managed a half-smile that quickly turned into a grimace. "My head hurts. I don't feel good." His brows furrowed in pain.

Burt's heart broke. "I know you don't. Help's going to be here soon, I promise. Just try to take deep breaths, okay?"

Kurt tried to comply, but on his first intake of breath, he started to cough, blood spraying the steering wheel. Kurt saw the bloody spray and started to hyperventilate.

"Oh, no Kurt. No, just look at me. Calm down, baby." Burt cupped his son's cheek and turned his face towards him. "You're okay. You're okay." Burt shook his sleeve down over his hand and gently dabbed the blood away from Kurt's mouth.

Slowly, Kurt was able to get his breath back, but the fit had thoroughly exhausted him; his eyes began to droop. "I'm tired."

"No, Kurt," Burt said, panic sneaking into his voice as Kurt's eye drifted shut. "Kurt! Come on, buddy! Stay awake!"

"'m 'wake, Dad," Kurt slurred. His eyes remained closed. "It's okay."

Finally, off in the distance, Burt heard the distinctively wail of an ambulance. Relief seeped through him.

"They're almost here, Kurt. Can you hear them?" There was no response. "Kurt?" Nothing. The relief turned to fear instantly. "Kurt! C'mon, baby, stay with me! Can you hear me? Just squeeze my hand, okay?" Kurt's hand remained limp in his father's.

"NO KURT!" Burt screamed, pressing his thumb into Kurt's cold wrist feeling for a pulse.


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't own Glee, which is probably a good thing or Kurt would be hurt all the time. I love the angst.**

* * *

Burt sat hunched over in the hard, lime colored plastic chair he had claimed after having his right elbow set. That had been three hours ago. He had a fractured right elbow, whiplash, and bruising to the chest. Kurt, on the other hand, had been rushed into emergency surgery.

Emergency surgery. As much as Burt hated those words, when the EMTs had pulled his son's cold, limp body from the wreckage and announced he needed to be rushed into emergency surgery, Burt had never been so relieved. Emergency surgery meant his son was still alive. He was still a father.

It seemed like it had taken an eternity for them to get Kurt out of the car. Kurt had slammed the driver's side into a large tree, so the Navigator had to be pulled away from it for the EMTs to safely extricate Kurt's mangled form.

The damage to Kurt's prized vehicle was astronomical. Burt looked on from the ambulance where he was waiting for his son to be pulled from the wreckage. It looked as if the entire driver's side had imploded. The headlight was smashed into oblivion, the hood had crumpled into the driver's seat, there was a distinctive tree-shaped dent in the crushed driver's side door, and the side view mirror was nowhere to be found.

It had taken awhile to pry the door off the car, but once Kurt was out, the EMTs had taken no time at all in getting Kurt onto a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Burt had watched as an IV of blood was hooked up to his son's arm and a large tube was shoved down his son's throat. Kurt remained unconscious for all of the proceedings.

Now that they were finally on their way to the hospital, Burt tried to reassure himself that everything was going to be okay, but looking down at Kurt's mangled body from within the small confines of the ambulance as it sped towards its destination, it was difficult not to fear the worst. Kurt's left arm lay across his chest at an unnatural angle and his legs were covered in blood. Burt tried to talk to the people who were trying to help his son, but he found his mouth was too dry to do anything but stare at his motionless son. He was afraid to even touch Kurt at all. He had never felt so helpless in his life.

* * *

Burt took a deep breath, pulling off his cap to run his hand over his head like he often did when he was upset. Carole squeezed his leg, giving him a small smile. She had met him at the hospital shortly after arriving there himself.

"Burt! Oh, Burt! Are you okay? What happened? Where's Kurt?" Carole had called frantically, rushing over to where her husband sat staring at the gray speckled floor.

"I broke my arm. Kurt's in surgery," Burt stated, his voice void of emotion. Carole sucked in a breath and sank down into the seat next to his.

"What happened, Burt?" Carole asked in a hushed voice. The waiting room was empty except for a nervous looking young man sitting in the far corner of the room.

Once Burt started talking, he couldn't stop. It was as if the memory of the wreck was a poison his body had to expel. Burt explained the car accident to his wife. About how Kurt's side of the car had taken all of the damage. About how he had broken his when they hit the tree. About how Kurt was covered in blood. About how Kurt was more concerned about his father's heart than his own numerous injuries. About how Kurt had started coughing up blood and crying in pain. About how Kurt had fallen asleep. And about how Burt couldn't wake him up.

"Do you want to call his boyfriend?" Carole had gently asked, taking his large hand in hers. "I'm sure he would want to know."

The iPhone was still clutched in Burt's hand. He hadn't let it go since he called 9-1-1. It was the one piece of Kurt he could hold onto. He wasn't going to let anything happen to it. Burt shook his head. "No, not yet. It's late. Once we know something, I'll call him. I'll at least leave him a message."

That was three hours ago. Despite the late hour, neither could sleep. Carole took to counting the ceiling tiles while Burt just stared out a window into the night.

Finally, an exhausted looking doctor stepped into the waiting room. "Kurt Hummel?" The couple stood, expecting the worst.

"I'm Dr. Motte. I was the chief surgeon for your son."

"How is he?" Burt asked anxiously, green eyes wide.

"Before I say anything, let me just say that the EMTs told me about the wreck. This isn't something people usually walk away from. You and your son were very lucky." Burt shot him a disbelieving look. "That being said, Kurt had quite a few serious injuries. He had a punctured lung; that's why he was coughing up blood. We were able to patch it up without any problems. He is going to be on a breathing machine for a while though while his lung gets stronger. He had also bitten through his lip so he has about 10 or 12 stitches there. Kurt broke 3 of his ribs, but we reset them. They are going to cause him some pain, though. His left hip was pretty much shattered and he has a broken elbow and a dislocated shoulder, but we were able to get it back in place. Kurt's left leg got hit pretty bad. He had a compound fracture but we pinned it back. His other leg is broken as well, so he's going to be in a wheelchair for a while. Kurt also suffered a serious concussion. He may have headaches and seizures for a while, but they should go away on their own after a few weeks. He has some severe bruising on his chest and minor cuts and bruises most everywhere else All in all, Kurt is a very lucky young man. I've never seen such a fighter. "

"Is he going to be okay?" Carole asked in a hushed voice.

"With some physical therapy and plenty of time, Kurt should make a full recovery," Dr. Motte said. "He can do his therapy here at St. Mary's when the time comes."

Burt released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. His baby was alive. He was going to be okay. "Can we see him?"

"Yeah, he's in room 1044. He's not awake yet, but the anesthesia should wear off in about an hour or so. Try not to overwhelm him when he wakes up. He's probably going to have some confusion and he needs to keep his heart rate down. Soft voices, dim lights, that kind of thing."

"Thank you so much, Dr. Motte," Carole said, shaking his hand. "We can't thank you enough. I'll call Blaine, Burt, if you want to go see him," Carole said, turning to her husband and reaching out her hand for Kurt's iPhone.

Burt reluctantly handed over the now warm phone. "Be careful with it," he said. Carole smiled at him and nodded, then turned away to make the call. Burt hurried down the long hall toward his son.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Oh my gosh you guys! I couldn't stop writing this story! Thank you so much for the favorites and follows and reviews. Especially gleefreak102 and CrissColferCrowe. I loved reading your reviews and they inspired me to crank out this chapter in one sitting.

So, yay! Kurt's not dead! And hopefully there will be some Klaine in the next chapter. I'm not sure when I'll be able to put it up, but don't worry, it's coming I promise!

TRP


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Glee. Damn it.**

* * *

Burt paused with his hand on the door knob outside Kurt's hospital room. He had jogged all the way to Room 1044, getting lost only once when he turned down the wrong hall way and somehow ended up in Radiology, even though he was pretty sure the Radiology department was on the second floor instead of the first. But now that he was outside the door, he was finding it extremely difficult to go in. He replayed Dr. Motte's long list of Kurt's injuries in his head. How was he supposed to go in there and see his son in so much pain, knowing he could do nothing to make it better? He was the dad. He wanted to be able to kiss the ouchies away like he could when Kurt was a little boy, back when a Band-Aid and a strawberry flavored lollipop could cure all of Kurt's cuts and bruises. There wasn't enough candy in the world to make Kurt better now.

_Stop it,_ Burt thought. _Kurt needs you and this isn't helping him. Yeah, he's all banged up, but he isn't dead. You heard the doctor; it was miracle Kurt was able to get out of there alive. Buck up already._ Burt took his cap off and ran his rough hand over head, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and slowly pushed the door open as quietly as he could.

Kurt was lying in the narrow bed with a breathing mask over his purple nose and swollen mouth. His left arm was swaddled in a heavy white cast and his legs were just two large lumps underneath the thin blue hospital blanket. The white bandage wrapped snuggly around his head made his face look sickly gray in comparison, the violet shadows under his closed eyes made it seem as though he hadn't slept in days. A large purple bruise colored the left cheek of his otherwise pallid face. The thin blanket was pulled up to Kurt's chest, so Burt couldn't see the bandages he knew were tightly wrapped around his son's multiple broken ribs. An IV dripped down the catheter attached to his thin arm, slowly feeding morphine into his bloodstream. A clip on his finger measured his oxygen levels and a heart monitor beeped slowly in the background. "Oh Kurt," Burt sighed, sinking into the somewhat cracked teal leather armchair next to the hospital bed. He rubbed the bony fingers that stuck out of Kurt's cast and settled in to wait for his baby to wake up.

* * *

Kurt was floating in darkness. He didn't mind though. It was nice and cool and comfortable and quiet there. It felt vaguely like swimming, but better. The blackness began to fade. Kurt tried to hold onto it, but it seemed like the harder he tried, the more it slipped from his grasp, the darkness fading into a foggy gray. Kurt slowly became aware of someone touching his left hand. The touch was surprisingly gentle despite the rough callouses on the fingers. Kurt knew these fingers. It was his dad. Then the pain hit. It sharp and aching at the same time and took over his entire body. It felt like hot pins and needles were stabbing him all over. A faint groan left his lips, which were oddly puffy.

"Kurt? Kurt, can you hear me?" came his father's anxious voice. Kurt groaned again, trying to turn his head, stopping when a flash of pain shot up his neck. He cried out softly. Why did everything hurt so badly? The pressure increased on his hand. "It's okay, Kurt. You're okay," came his dad's voice again. "Can you open your eyes for me? Kurt?"

Kurt tried to obey. He really did. But it felt like someone had cemented his shut while he'd been asleep. After about five tries, he managed to open one of his eyes a slit. The bright light assaulted his pupil and he was forced to slam it shut again.

"Oh, yeah. Shit, I forgot. Hold on, baby. I'm just going to dim the lights," Burt said, pulling his hand away from Kurt's. Kurt let out a small whimper, flexing his fingers, trying to find his father again. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, I promise," Burt murmured to his distraught son, taking his hand once the lights weren't quite as glaring. "Try to open your eyes for again, okay?" Kurt's brows furrowed. "It's not going to be as bright. I turned the lights down a bit for you. Come on, bud, you can do it." Kurt squinted up at his father, who was leaning over him, one hand holding Kurt's, the other softly stroking Kurt's forehead.

"Dah-" Kurt moaned before Burt stopped him.

"No, don't try to talk. You have a big mask thingy on your face," Burt explained. "Do you know where you are? Just squeeze my hand once for yes and twice for no, don't try to talk again." He felt Kurt twitch his fingers twice. "That's okay, the doctor said you might not remember things for a little bit. You're in the hospital. Do you remember the wreck?" Burt asked as gently as he could. He hoped Kurt had forgotten it, at least for the time being. He didn't need that kind of stress right now.

No such luck. Burt looked on helplessly as his son's gray-blue eyes grew wide and round and terrified as memories of the accident assaulted him. His breathing became labored as he stared straight ahead, obviously reliving the wreck.

"No, Kurt! Kurt, listen to me, it's okay now. You're okay, you're fine," Burt tried to comfort his distressed son, stroking his face. Kurt took no notice, continuing his rapid breathing, completely deaf to his father's attempts to break through his flashback. "Can you hear me? Kurt?" Burt called, panic creeping back into his already worried voice. "Baby? Are you there?"

Suddenly, Kurt's limbs began to jerk uncontrollably and his eyes rolled back into his bruised skull. "KURT!" Burt screamed. He threw open the door. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE!" He ran back to his still jerking son. "Please, Kurt! Kurt!"

A young Asian doctor and a stocky nurse in Hello Kitty scrubs ran into the room. "He's seizing," the doctor said. "Get Dad out of here."

"You gotta go, sir!" the nurse pushed Burt towards the door.

"But, my son!" Burt protested, trying to side stick the young woman to get back to Kurt's side. He couldn't just leave him like this. But the nurse remained resolute, blocking his path.

"Please, sir! We'll call when the seizure stops, okay?" the nurse said and forcefully pushed Burt out of the room.

Burt stood, staring at the door, much like he had only an hour ago. Things seemed just as hopeless now as they had then. He slowly sank onto the bench a few doors down from Kurt's room and stared at the floor just like he had in the waiting room.

* * *

Carole was coming down the hall towards Kurt's room when Burt was thrown out. After leaving a message for Blaine, she decided to go ahead and call Finn and let him know what was going on. She had told him before she left for the hospital that Kurt and Burt had been in a car accident. Finn wanted to go with his mother, but Carole had told him to stay home. Finn hadn't taken the call well.

"Kurt? Oh my God, are you okay?" Finn answered the phone.

"No baby, it's Mom," Carole leaned against the beige textured wall of the waiting room, heavy hearted.

"Why are you on Kurt's phone? Is he okay? How's Burt?" Finn questioned, his voice much higher than usual, a tendency of his when he was nervous. Carole pictured him pacing around the living room, sweating through his shirt. She sighed heavily.

"Burt's alright. Kurt's pretty banged up though," her voice husky.

"Oh. What's wrong with him?"

"A lot of things. He has a concussion, a broken arm, two broken legs, three broken ribs, and some other things." Carole tried to keep things vague. She still hadn't seen Kurt yet, so she didn't feel she could adequately describe her stepson's condition, especially over the phone.

"Shit," Finn muttered, and for once Carole didn't correct him. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know. The doctor said he should make a full recovery, but from the way it sounds…" She trailed off, smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of her jean jacket. Kurt hardly ever allowed her to wear it out in public, said it was too 1990s. She sighed again. "I'll pick you up in the morning. Just try to get some sleep, alright?"

"Yeah," Carole could hear the tears in her son's tight voice. "I love you, Mom."

"I know you do, honey. I love you too. I'll see you in a couple hours."

Now, seeing Burt sitting outside inside of inside with his son, Carole's heart began to pound. She rushed down the hall to join her husband.

"What happened?" She asked in a voice perhaps a little too loud for a hospital, a couple of passing interns shot her a dirty look. She didn't care.

Burt looked up into her face imploringly. His eyes were bloodshot, he had been crying. "Kurt woke up for a few minutes."

"But that's a good thing, isn't it?

"He didn't know where he was. I told him that we were in an accident and he had a seizure. They made me leave. It's all my fault," Burt went back to looking at the tiled floor.

"Oh, no it's not, darling. It's not at all. Don't you remember Dr. Motte saying that Kurt would probably have seizures for a while? This was bound to happen sometime. He's going to be okay, they were expecting this. WE should have been expecting this," Carole tried to remind him. His eyes remained glued to the ground. Carole reached over and rubbed his shoulder.

"His recovery is going to take a long time, but he IS going to recover. These seizures are just a bump on the road, one of many I'm sure. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing at all."

The nurse came out of Kurt's room, a smile on her freckled face. "Kurt's stable. You can go back in now, sir."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

****A little cliffhanger. But at least Kurt's okay, right? Again, I have no idea if any of this is medically sound so please feel free to correct me.

Sorry about the lack of Klaine in this chapter, but I promise there is plenty of Klaine and Furt on the way! Yay!

Please read and review if you have the time! Thank you so much.

TRP


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess what! I don't own Glee! ERMAGAWD!**

* * *

Kurt lay on the bed, blinking slowly, trying to clear his vision. The pretty Asian doctor had told him that he had a seizure but that it had gone away pretty quickly on its own, which apparently was "a good sign." He felt at least somewhat more aware than he had last time he was awake, but his head still felt very foggy and his tongue felt about four sizes too big for his mouth. A nurse in hot pink Hello Kitty scrubs was fiddling with his IV, presumably giving him more pain medicine, judging by how weird and floaty he suddenly felt afterward.

His dad was back in the room, talking to the doctor who had just introduced herself as Dr. Kitty Lee. Kurt thought that sounded more like a porn star's name, but tried not to judge. She seemed nice enough and had gotten him through his first ever seizure.

Carole sat down next to his bed, stroking Kurt's hair away from his face. He tried to smile at her. It was pretty difficult though, what with his tongue trying to fill his entire mouth and the fact the weird plastic oxygen mask was still covering the lower half of his face. Carole seemed to understand the poorly executed gesture.

"Hey, sweetheart," Carole smiled back. "How are you doing?"

Kurt shrugged with the shoulder that wasn't recently popped out of place then back into place within about two hours of each other. "I'm okay," he rasped, his voice surprising him. It sounded as though it hadn't been used in days instead of just a few hours.

"No you're not. But you will be," she squeezed his hand lightly. "Guess what. Finn and Blaine are coming to see you in the morning."

Kurt's eyes widened a little. "You called Blaine?"

Dr. Lee wrapped things up with Burt and left, taking the nurse with her. Burt stood somewhat awkwardly next to his wife. "Hey there, bud. You had me scared there for minute," he said, forcing a smile onto his face, but Kurt could still see the worry behind his eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to," Kurt croaked, pulling the mask away from his face a little so Carole and his dad could understand him better.

The fake smile slipped from Burt's face. "Oh, no, Kurt I didn't mean…" Burt trailed off, feeling guilty.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I was joking, Dad. God. You have to lighten up a little bit." The words were a bit slurred thanks to the morphine running down the IV into his bloodstream. Kurt offered his dad the same hard earned smile he had given Carole, not realizing the stitches in his bottom lip made him look fairly demented when paired with his glassy eyes.

Burt laughed and put the oxygen mask back over his son's face. He didn't like Kurt pulling it away. It was there for a reason, right? Kurt took a deep breath then pulled it back off to talk to Carole, ignoring his father's pointed look.

"What time is it?"

"Umm," Carole looked at her wrist, realizing she wasn't wearing a watch.

"It's about 3 in the morning," Burt answered for her. "Why? You got a date or something?"

Kurt's eyes flashed back to Carole. "You said you called Blaine?" Burt's eyes flicked over to the heart monitor, which was beeping a little faster than it had been. "Did you talk to him? What did he say?" Kurt imagined what he would do if he got a late-night phone call from Blaine's mom telling him that his boyfriend was in the hospital. Images of panic-attacks and speeding down streets to get to the hospital flashed through his head.

"Calm down, I just left him a message," Carole soothed, stoking his hair again. "I just told him that you were in a car accident and were in the hospital but that you were okay. I told him to give me a call when he wakes up, okay? He knows you're not dying or anything so don't worry about it. I told him to call before he does anything. I didn't even tell him which hospital you're in so he wouldn't try to come see you before letting us know. He'll be fine."

"Just worry about you right now, alright?" Burt sat down on the edge of the bed, careful to avoid Kurt's broken legs. Even in the hospital, Kurt was more concerned with Blaine's safety than his own state of health. Burt was reminded forcibly of Kurt's constant questioning about his heart right after the crash and rubbed Kurt's cast fondly. Kurt was so like his mother.

Kurt nodded, his eyes drooping. "What time are you bringing Finn over?" he asked, turning his head sluggishly towards Carole.

"Not until about 7 or so. Go to sleep, hon. You have time to rest before he gets here."

"Hmmm," Kurt sighed, letting his eyes slide shut. "Okay." He let the oxygen mask fall back over his face. Burt moved to get off the bed so Kurt could be more comfortable.

Kurt forced his eyes back open. "Dad?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"You'll be here when I wake up?" Kurt asked, his filmy eyes boring into Burt's tearstained ones.

"Yeah, Kurt," Burt sat back down on the bed, taking his son's cold hand. "I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere."

Kurt smiled and closed his eyes again. Pretty soon his breathing evened out and he was asleep.

* * *

Burt was woken up at 7:07 a.m. by Kurt's phone blaring "Teenage Dream" from the bedside table where Carole had left it when she went to go get Finn. Burt sat up quickly, wincing from sleeping in the uncomfortable leather chair all night, and grabbed the phone before it could wake up Kurt.

"Hello?" Burt answered quietly, softly closing the door behind him as he stepped into the hall.

"Mr. Hummel?" came a frantic voice. "This is Blaine. Oh my God. Oh my God, is Kurt okay? What's going on?"

Burt rubbed his eyes. "Blaine. Blaine calm down, Kurt's going to be fine. He's alright. Take a deep breath for me, okay?" He heard Blaine take a breath, crackling over the phone. "You okay?"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

"Kurt and I were in a wreck last night. I'm okay but Kurt didn't come out so well. He's going to be fine though, so don't worry. He was awake and talking to us last night. Can you come see him today? He was really worried about you last night."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm on my way now. Um, actually, where am I going?" Burt heard a car start in the background.

"St. Mary's in Lima. It's not hard to find. Do you, like, need or anything?" Burt looked around the hallway. A couple nurses were gossiping by the nurse's station and a man in a hospital gown was sitting in a wheelchair staring into space a few doors down. Burt had never been over to Blaine's house so he didn't really know if he would be able to give him directions to the hospital and none of the other people he could see looked especially promising in that department.

"No, sir. It's fine, I already entered it into the GPS. I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Okay. Don't rush. He'll still be here when you get here. Just drive safely alright?"

"Yes, sir. I will. I'll be you in a little while. Tell Kurt I love him. Bye." And Blaine hung up.

Burt slid the iPhone into the pocket of his deeply wrinkled jeans before slipping back into Kurt's room as silently as he could. Kurt was still sound asleep and showed no signs of waking. Not long after, a nurse, the same one from the night before came in. She was still dressed in her brightly colored scrubs.

"Hi there! I'm Jenna. I'm just checking on Kurt," she introduced herself, adjusting her glasses to peer at Kurt's chart.

"How's he doing?" Burt asked, trying to sneak a peek at his son's chart without Jenna noticing what he was doing. It didn't work; Jenna looked over at him just as he was lifting out of his chair to get a better look. She giggled.

"Kurt's doing really well. So far he's showing no signs of infection, which is really good. His heart rate is good and we should be able to get that monitor off him sometime today or tomorrow, actually. He's going to be on the oxygen until his lungs heals some more but he's breathing okay. No more seizures since the one last night?" Jenna asked.

Burt shook his head. Jenna smiled widely at him, flashing him a glimpse of straight white teeth. He was almost expecting her to have braces.

"Good. That's really good. Kurt's doing really well. If he has another seizure, come get me or one of the other nurses. Head traumas can get pretty nasty and seizures are never fun, poor baby. It's not uncommon for people who have concussions like Kurt's to develop post-concussion syndrome. Don't worry," Jenna said, seeing Burt's scared look. "It goes away on its own. It just means that he might have seizures or headaches even after his concussion heals. But don't worry about that right now. We'll just cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?" Burt nodded. "Let me just check his levels and I'll get out of your way."

"Do you know when he's going to wake up?" Burt asked as Jenna wrote something down on the chart.

"Probably not for a little while. The pain meds we gave last night knocked him out pretty good. If he's in pain when he wakes up, have him press the call button and we'll bring him some more morphine. Alright," Jenna said, finishing up. "I'm outta here! Dr. Lee will be back in later this afternoon to check on Kurt again. Let me know if you need anything, 'kay?" And she left. The room felt oddly silent without her.

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**Author's Note:**

Yes I know I said last chapter that there was going to be Klaine, and the chapter before that. But Blaine and Kurt WERE in the same chapter at least. That counts, right? And you got to see (hear, whatever) his initial reaction.

Yeah you don't have to tell me. I know it doesn't really count. But Blaine is on the way! I'm ready for some Klaine and Furt feels!

By the way, all the hospital staff are based on people I know! I hope they don't mind... Whatever, I'm doing it anyway. Love you guys.

And thank you to my mysterious benefactor for you constructive criticism. You know who you are.

Please review if you have the time.

TRP


	5. Chapter 5

**Hold on, let me check... Ummmm... Nope. Still don't own Glee. **

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Kurt woke up to muffled voices, as if they were speaking from far away. He thought he heard his dad, but he couldn't be sure through the fogginess that was dampening his brain. His eyelids felt too heavy to lift, so he just kept his eyes closed. He was warm and comfortable and wanted more than anything to fall back asleep, but the voices that woke him up weren't going away.

"… still can't believe … walked away … and he…" Kurt heard the words but couldn't understand what they meant. The voices were getting clearer.

"… did that even happen? Your side didn't get hit at all?" Kurt's heart leapt. He recognized that voice. It wasn't his dad, though. It was his boyfriend.

"Not really," came Burt's voice again. "I have no idea how, but my side didn't get hardly any damage. I keep wondering if he could have done that on purpose. I know that the car was spinning and everything but I mean, it just seems like something Kurt would do."

"I know what you mean. He's so strong. I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, but if he could have, I'm pretty sure he would have." Kurt heard Blaine sigh. "I still can't believe this happened. I wish it would have been me."

"I know. So do I."

The fogginess had worn off enough that Kurt could fully understand everything his father and boyfriend were saying, which Kurt was happy about. However, Kurt was pretty sure the fogginess was actually the pain medicine he had been administered the night before. Now that it was wearing off, he was beginning to feel his injuries again, mostly his head and his chest, though his hip also hurt a fair amount. He tried to shift his weight further towards his good side, but that was complicated by the fact that a rather large amount of his body was covered in plaster. A pained groan escaped his lips as he tried to lift his hip to relieve some of the pressure.

"I think he's waking up. Kurt? Kurt, can you hear me?" Blaine's usually soft voice sounded grating in Kurt's sore head. He groaned again, turning his head away from the sound. He felt a warm pressure on his hand. "Kurt? Babe, it's me. It's Blaine. Can you wake up for me, please?"

"Come on, kiddo. Just open your eyes for us, okay?"

Kurt struggled to open his eyes. Finally he managed to lift the heavy lids enough to blink blearily up at his boyfriend and his father. Blaine's eyes were rimmed red and puffy and there were tear tracks staining his tan cheeks. His hair lacked its usual layer of gel and, oh God, were those sweatpants? His father didn't look much better with his arm in a sling and his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.

"Hey, kiddo. How're you doing?" Burt smoothed Kurt's hair away from his forehead. "You were asleep for a long time. It's 2:00 in the afternoon. Blaine here was in a panic." He grinned at his son's boyfriend. Blaine smiled guiltily in return.

Blaine had arrived at the hospital several hours before. Burt was glad he decided to wait for him outside Kurt's room. Blaine was running his fingers frantically through his wild hair, eyes darting to the plaques that listed the room numbers until he saw Burt waiting for him and ran down the hall, ignoring the dirty looks the nurses gave him as he thundered past.

"Burt! Where is he? Can I see him? Why are you out here? What's going on? Oh my God, Oh my God," Blaine's usual dapperness was nowhere to be found as he tried to push himself around Burt to get into Kurt's room.

"Blaine," Burt gripped the young man's shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Calm down. Kurt's fine, he's sleeping, but I can't let you in there like this. If he wakes up and sees you like this, you're just going to stress him out more and he's already pretty shaken up."

Blaine looked ashamed of himself, cowering slightly under Burt's stern gaze. "You're right. I know he doesn't need this. I'm sorry. Just… give me a minute to process," Blaine sat down on the bench, leaning his head against the wall behind and taking deep breaths. He stayed like that for a couple of minutes, trying to get his emotions under control again. After a while, he glanced up at Burt. "He is okay though, right?"

Burt squeezed Blaine's arm gently. "He will be. You calmed down some?"

"Yeah, I think so," Blaine stood, wiping his hands on his dark gray sweatpants. "How does he look?" He seemed to reconsider his question. "I'm sorry. I know that sounds horrible. I should just be thankful that he survived at all and now I'm asking to make sure he isn't deformed or something. I didn't really mean that the way it came out. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.." he trailed off.

"I know what you mean, don't worry. Yeah, he's pretty banged up. You can't really see much of him. His arm and both his legs are in casts so you can only see his face and his right arm. He has a breathing mask on – don't worry, he can breathe, he just punctured his lung so they're doing oxygen therapy or something – so you can't see that much of his face. His lip and nose are swollen up and he has some cuts and bruises all over but he still looks like Kurt. He rolled his eyes at me last night; he's going to be fine."

Blaine managed a halfhearted laugh. "Can I see him now?"

Burt nodded and opened the door.

Now, Blaine struggled to remain calm, but now because he was so relieved to see his boyfriend's beautiful blue/green/gray eyes looking up with him. He was so relieved to see them that he could ignore how glazed the looked and the dark circles that outlined them. Of course, he knew while Kurt was asleep that he was going to wake up eventually and the only reason he didn't respond even when Blaine kissed his hand and stoked his cheek was because of all the pain medicine he was on, but he hadn't spoken to Kurt since the day before the accident and it was extremely difficult to convince himself that his boyfriend was going to be okay.

"Hi, baby," Blaine took Kurt's hand, lightly tracing the lines of his palm. "I've missed you."

Kurt sighed. "I missed you, too." While Kurt saw Blaine's tearstained face and bloodshot eyes, he noticed how the tear tracks made his skin shine and how the red tinge in the whites of his eyes made the green in his hazel eyes pop.

"Ummm, I'll leave you two alone for a minute," Burt said lamely, backing towards the door. "I have to tell your doctor you're awake and I need to see where Finn went anyway."

"Oh Kurt," Blaine said as the door shut, his voice husky. "Don't you ever do this to me again. I was so worried. I got a call in the middle of the night and I saw it was from you and I ignored it because it was late and I was tired and then when I got up this morning I listened to the voice mail and it was Carole saying you were in a wreck-"

"Blaine," Kurt called through the breathing mask.

"-and you were in the hospital and I ignored it! I ignored the call! I could have come. I could have been with you and I ignored it! Oh my God, baby, I'm so sorry! I know I should have been here and I wasn't and you needed me and I wasn't there!"

"Blaine!" Kurt called again, lacing his fingers with Blaine's.

"You could have died, Kurt!" Blaine continued hysterically, his face crumpling. "You could have died in that wreck! I'm your boyfriend, I'm supposed to protect you and I didn't even answer my phone when you , or, I mean Carole, called! Oh Kurt, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish it had been me. Why did this have to happen to you?!"

"Blaine!" Kurt called again. "I'm okay. I'm still alive. I'm not going anywhere, alright. You've got to calm down, darling. You couldn't have come last night anyway. The visiting was family only so you couldn't have gotten in. Even if you were here, I was in surgery last night," Blaine made a choking sound from the effort of biting back a sob, "and was only awake for a few minutes before the morphine knocked me out. Dad and Carole stayed all night and couldn't do anything for me. There was nothing to do! I was asleep. You have got to stop beating yourself up. I'm fine. You're fine. WE'RE fine! Okay?"

Blaine nodded, staring at the floor.

"Look at me," Kurt stared at the top of his head until Blaine bashfully met his eyes. "I love you. I loved you before the wreck, I loved you during the wreck, and I sure as hell love you after the wreck. I will love you from my damn wheelchair and I will love you during physical therapy and I will love you years from now, when we don't even remember when this happened. Nothing's changed, alright? So stop freaking out."

Blaine readjusted the oxygen mask gently over his boyfriend's face, wary of his swollen nose. A few tears leaked from his eyes. "I love you, too, Kurt. And I will always love you." He bent over and kissed Kurt lightly, right above his right eyebrow. "Now shut up and breathe for a while."

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**Author's Note:**

****Finally! The long awaited Klaine has finally made an appearance! I know, I know. It's about time right? The next chapter will bring some Furty feels. I'm not sure how much longer this story is going to be. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end it while Kurt's still in the hospital but I might pick it up again sometime in the future? I'm not sure. Either way, this has been a lot of fun to write. Thank you so much for your support in this endeavor.

TRP


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